After Hind Joudeh

It means you hear the wind
outside the door or the alarm blaring
and wonder
what will break,
what broke,
what will be okay.
It means you are safe
for now
but with that comes guilt
for those who are not.

It means you will pray on rosary beads,
recite the Shema,
spread out your prayer blanket
five times a day
You hear the call to prayer
You hear the shofar
You hear the church bells
You wonder who else
is still hearing it
You wonder whether
You are all surviving

Eve Lyons is a poet and fiction writer living in the Boston area. Her work has appeared in Lilith, Literary Mama, Hip Mama, PIF, Welter, Prospectus, Poetry Quarterly, Barbaric Yawp, Word Riot, Dead Mule of Southern Literature, as well as other magazines and several anthologies. Her first book of poetry was published in May of 2020 by WordTech Communications. She works as an expressive arts therapist at an outpatient mental health clinic and teach at Lesley University.